


Less Abduction, More Kissing

by khilari, Persephone_Kore



Series: Nikola AU [1]
Category: Girl Genius
Genre: F/M, Female!Klaus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-07
Updated: 2014-07-07
Packaged: 2018-02-07 21:37:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1914696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khilari/pseuds/khilari, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persephone_Kore/pseuds/Persephone_Kore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Female!Klaus AU. Barry has something to ask Nikola. Her answer could involve more tact.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Less Abduction, More Kissing

"Hey, Nikola...." Barry came and sat down beside her, carrying two bottles, one of which he offered her. Not a second beer, something local and weirder. She tried an experimental sip. Nice. If strong enough that she probably shouldn't finish it before finding out why Barry sounded unusually serious for a party. He studied the bonfire for a moment before resuming, "I know you've been enjoying your flings with the Jägers--"

"Yes, I have," Nikola said a bit testily. And it wasn't -- well, technically it was his business, the Jägers were his and Bill's, but it wasn't as if anybody were getting hurt. 

"But I was wondering," Barry said, "if you thought you could have any interest in me. Because I love you dearly as a friend, you know that, and I think I'm a bit _in_ love with you already, but--" He rolled his eyes. "I think Bill has the drama angle covered and I'd really rather not turn our friendship into a whole new variety, so if they're more what you're looking for or I'm just not your type, I'll drop it." 

Nikola liked to imagine that if she hadn't been bracing herself for some sort of concerned-friend criticism, she would have said something more tactful than, "You're not actually that different." 

Barry sat up, looking scandalized. " _Excuse_ me?!"

"Obviously I _like_ them, so you could be a bit less insulted," said Nikola.

Barry's lips thinned. "They obviously like you, too, but they'd still think it was a perfectly acceptable approach to courtship to sack your town and drag you home."

Nikola drew herself up. "You can try that approach if you want, but it won't get you very far."

Barry glared up at her. "If I ever went that far off the deep end you'd kill me inside a week and damned well ought to."

Nikola snorted and tried not to feel flattered. "I don't kill the Jägers."

"They haven't _actually_ kidnapped you; I assume that has something to do with it."

"Well, yes." Nikola stopped trying to loom at Barry and took another sip of her drink. "They wouldn't on their own behalf, either."

"I realize they're not actually as stupid as they sometimes pretend to be," Barry said drily.

"They're perfectly friendly to people they're not attacking," said Nikola. Which was, on reflection, less of an endorsement than she'd meant. "They're fun and confident, and very loyal."

Barry rubbed his forehead. "...Okay. The trouble is who they're loyal _to_."

"You mean you?"

"I mean every generation ahead of us." Barry sighed. "I think most of them are hoping to wait out this weird anomaly and go back to normal."

"If you don't think you and Bill can raise your children better than _that_ after talking Sparks into behaving all over the place you must be the only one," said Nikola.

"We're certainly planning on it," Barry said. "But I expect it will be something of a disappointment to the more old-fashioned elements of Mechanicsburg."

"It certainly will if their Heterodynes remain deeply offended by the thought of having anything in common with them," said Nikola tartly. "You were fine with the idea I might prefer them to you, but not that I might like both for similar reasons?"

"I said I'd drop it, not that it wouldn't bother me," Barry muttered, then pushed his glasses up his nose and took a deep breath. "But I take your point that the combination might be a little irrational." A wry look. “You’re going to teach all our kids to get on with the Jägers, aren’t you?”

"Assuming a lot, are you?" Nikola asked, amused.

Barry grinned at her. "Not that much. You wouldn't have to be their mother for that and they'll probably all adore you."

"It's not as if I'm actually good with children," said Nikola, wondering where Barry had got that idea. Better than Lucrezia though -- Nikola liked her, but couldn't imagine her abandoning her absorption with herself long enough to raise children.

"You're good with people," said Barry.

"I am _not_ ," said Nikola.

Barry raised his eyebrows, still smiling. “I don’t think the evidence supports that contention.”

"The evidence suggests I usually leave it to you," said Nikola, not quite truthfully.

"Not with everybody." Barry took a swallow of his drink and then blinked at it in mild surprise, as if he'd forgotten what it was meant to be. "And more reserved doesn't mean you're not good at it. What about everybody you keep sending home to Wulfenbach?"

"It's not as if I have to talk them into accepting the only offer of employment they're likely to get," Nikola pointed out. Most of the constructs that _didn't_ want to go with her were loyalty conditioned in some way. That or actually well treated, which was more complicated -- especially if the Spark in question had _only_ been treating their own creations well. Bill and Barry tended to try extra hard to redeem those ones, either because they took it as a sign there was a better nature in there somewhere or because it reminded them of home. Nikola hadn't asked. "But I take your point."

"I might elaborate on it anyway," Barry said thoughtfully. "Not that I'm disputing yours. I mean, you're right that they have very limited options." A wry smile. "We _could_ ask them to Mechanicsburg, but I'm not sure how to do it without feeling like it's asking for a... a more personal commitment than you do. If _we_ could figure it out I'm not sure it wouldn't feel that way anyhow once they got there. And that would be better than leaving them without _any_ options, but it's still a hell of a position to put somebody in who's never had a reason to trust someone before. Mechanicsburg can be a little smothering if you don't--" He stopped and shook his head. "I'm getting off the trail here. You make it practically a business offer, you ask as little trust as you can of them before you can prove it's warranted, and I'm not sure if you realize how often you end up getting it _because_ you don't push them for it."

"They've had enough of Sparks demanding love and loyalty of them without cause," said Nikola. "Thank you," she added, because the question of what to do with people who had been created without a place in the world -- or altered to no longer have one -- except with someone who treated them badly wasn't an easy one. Her own tendency to just take them all home and sort it out from there lacked something in subtlety, although she was inclined to think it made up for it in effectiveness. "And I like Mechanicsburg, but you're right, it runs on personal loyalty and those without that are outsiders. Even the Jägers love me because I love you." At which point she covered her confusion by taking a swallow of her drink -- if she hadn't been getting off the original topic a bit she would have thought before saying that.

She could feel more than see Barry looking slightly startled, and then he wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a quick hug before sitting back. "You don't have to look flustered. I won't take that as meaning more than it was meant to."

"I didn't mean to say it quite like that," said Nikola, aware that she was still flustered and therefore sounding grumpy. "But it is true. And even if it's been as a friend up until now, I'd still like to try being more."

Barry was sufficiently used to her that the grumpiness didn't seem to faze him in the slightest, at least judging from the purely happy smile when she looked at him instead of scowling at the bonfire. "I'm glad." The next moment an expression of mild consternation replaced the smile. "Although now I'm going to have to ask what you'd actually want to _do_ on a date that we don't normally do for fun. I've just realized my points of reference go straight from coffee or dinner and dancing to, uh...." He waved a hand vaguely in Bill's direction.

"Being kidnapped?" Nikola suggested, failing to keep a straight face.

"Kidnapped, strapped more or less ineffectually to a slab until one or the other party's relatives break down the door...." Barry _almost_ kept a straight face. Either they had failed to examine the equipment closely enough, or Lucrezia made very subtle and highly effective modifications to various types of restraints that Bill had been known to extricate himself from when applied by other captors. Although, to be fair, other captors were probably more subject to momentary lapses of attention. "I assume it's more appealing if that's your only real opportunity for a private conversation."

Nikola laughed. "I don't have much experience of dating either." The Jägers' idea of a date was...not so _very_ far removed from Bill's, but it was going to restart the argument if she _said_ that.

He grinned at her. _Not_ the way he usually grinned at her. This was the you're-very-pretty-and-I-want-to-charm-you smile, and Nikola was not _exactly_ surprised to discover that it was extremely distracting. "Okay. I'm sure we'll come up with something."

"We could do the things we normally do for fun but with more kissing," suggested Nikola, leaning forward slightly. Right now she really wanted to kiss him.

"That _does_ sound like a good idea." Barry set his drink down to put his arms around her, one hand shockingly warm at the back of her neck, and kissed her as if this had been on his mind for some time.


End file.
